Writer Identity and Writing Workshop

A Future Teacher and Teacher Educator Critically Reflect

Authors

  • Cynthia B. Leung University of South Florida St. Petersburg Author
  • Jacky Hicks Paideia School of Tampa Bay Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v6i3.583

Keywords:

primary/elementary schools, teacher education internationally

Abstract

Students currently attending colleges and universities in the United States were in elementary school when writing workshop was first introduced as a teaching method. In this article an undergraduate honors student and a literacy teacher educator critically reflect on the student’s 2nd grade experiences with writing workshop and identify the features of this teaching method that led to her development of a writer’s identity. Through autobiography and retrospective analysis of primary data, they argue that tone, the basic elements of writing workshop of time, choice, and process; a literature-rich environment; and a community focus contributed to the development of a writerly identity.

Author Biographies

  • Cynthia B. Leung, University of South Florida St. Petersburg

    Cynthia B. Leung is Professor of Literacy Education at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where she teaches graduate reading and writing pedagogy courses and coordinates the English Education and Reading Education masters programs. She received her M.A. in English and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction/Language and Literacy in Schooling from the University of Delaware. She publishes research on English literacy development of monolingual English speakers and dual language learners and on pedagogy for culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Recently, she co-edited several books on English and Chinese literacy in China and international literacy initiatives.

  • Jacky Hicks, Paideia School of Tampa Bay

    Jacky Hicks teaches literature and logic at the Paideia School of Tampa Bay, Florida. She received her B.A. in political science with minors in English and journalism from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and recently completed a graduate certificate in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of South Florida Tampa.

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Published

2014-12-05

Issue

Section

Research Matters

How to Cite

Leung, C. B., & Hicks, J. (2014). Writer Identity and Writing Workshop: A Future Teacher and Teacher Educator Critically Reflect. Writing and Pedagogy, 6(3), 583-605. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v6i3.583

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